Comparison of the processing and quality of tortillas produced from larger grain borer Prostephanus truncatus (Horn.) resistant and susceptible maize genotypes

•We compared the processing and quality of tortillas produced from insect damaged kernels.•We reported negative effects for biophysical and biochemical traits in maize damaged.•The use of insect damaged kernel reduced substantially tortilla quality.•Tortilla yield is reduced because of the losses before the nixtamalization process.

The aim of this research was to compare the processing and quality of tortillas produced from two kinds of larger grain borer (LGB) Prostephanus truncatus (Horn.) damaged kernels: resistant (IRM) and susceptible (ISM) genotypes. The damaged LGB kernels had significant lower test weight, 1000 kernel weigh and density. The ISM kernels were more negatively affected by insects compared with the IRM counterpart. A significant reduction of 5% in starch was observed in IRM kernels but not in ISM counterparts. Flour acidity and protein increased 8-fold and 5%, respectively parallel to an augmentation of weight grain losses whereas the crude fat content significantly reduced by 29%. Insect damage enhanced the penetration of the hot lime solution into the starchy endosperm. Insect infested kernels which lost 10% and 20% of their weight required 34% and 42% less lime-cooking time compared to sound kernels. The 10% and 20% insect-damaged kernels lost 15 and 23% of their solids during storage and tortilla processing, respectively. Finally, LGB damaged kernels reduced substantially the tortilla quality in terms of color.